Southwestern Ill. man gets 9 years in baby beating

EDWARDSVILLE - A southwestern Illinois man has been ordered to spend nine years in prison for the debilitating 2011 beating of a baby.

The (Alton) Telegraph reports that 26-year-old Matthew Fields of Hartford was sentenced this week after pleading guilty to a count of aggravated battery of a child.

Prosecutors say Fields was alone with the then-9-week-old baby in October 2011 when he allegedly shook and squeezed the child.

Authorities say the baby sustained head trauma and developmental delays.

Fields will have to serve at least 85 percent of his sentence and must register as a violent offender for 10 years.